Yes – the final Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 is just out and now shipping! Pretty much on the time­frame we forecast, you can download a free trial today… And the new product will work side-by-side with any previous releases of Lightroom you may own. If you have an earlier version installed on your system(s), Lightroom 5 will ask if you’d like to upgrade your catalog and copy everything over.

If you’ve joined the Creative Cloud, then the full release of Lightroom 5 is already available for you to download and use now as part of your membership – it comes automatically and at no additional cost.

Also, if you happened to purchase Lightroom 4 within the past 30 days, then if you like you can return it under Adobe’s Refund Policy and order Lightroom 5 instead. It’s not an official “grace period,” but it works.

Adobe has just unveiled the new “CC” release to follow CS6 (it’s not CS7) – and one of the upgrade ques­tions people are asking is what’s new, what’s different, what’s changed in CC (Creative Cloud) compared to the previous version? The company says it“brings together everything you need to create your best work with incredible new versions of our flagship desktop tools, services that take publishing content to the next level, and making it easier than ever for creatives to collaborate and share their work worldwide.” So our job here is to give you a quick “cheat sheet” on top new features, to help you decide about upgrading…

The next generation of Creative Suite products – sometimes referred to as CS7 or CS-Next – will actually be called “CC” (as in “Photoshop CC“) and from here on out will be available exclusively through the Creative Cloud. So there will not be a line called “Creative Suite 7.”

Adobe has just announced a free public beta release of the eagerly-anticipated Photoshop Lightroom 5, with new tools and advancements to develop, enhance and share your digital photographs… Lightroom 5 provides photographers with an elegant and efficient way to work with their growing digital image collections, bring out the best in their images, and make an impact from raw capture to creative output, all while maintaining the highest possible quality each step of the way.

“The Lightroom team is proud to introduce the fifth major version of the product designed for and by photographers. We’ve been hard at work improving an application that’s intended to be as easy to use as it is powerful. This release builds on the image quality improvements in Lightroom 4 to provide a truly complete workflow and imaging solution. We encour­age you to try the beta release and provide your feedback to the product team.”

Historically during times like these, the company has set a “grace period” or grandfather offer to provide free upgrades to the next versions for customers buying the older software around the time of new releases – and in fact, such an “Upgrade Assurance promotion” deal was announced for CS6 in March of last year.

Using a limited-time promotion code, you can now join the Creative Cloud for $29.99 a month for the first year, which is 40% off the regular $49.99 price of an annual membership.

No previous ownership of any Adobe product is necessary, but the price reduction is only available during this very brief window.

This deal comes via the big annual NAB show and is aimed at video professionals — though it’s apparent that anyone interested can use it… It’s valid through April 19, 2013 in North America, and available one-to-a-customer direct from the Adobe Store only:

Powerful new features are coming to Adobe’s industry-leading video and audio tools. You’ll soon be able to work even more creatively, seamlessly, and profitably — from script to screen. Here’s an early look at what to expect in the upcoming releases …

Adobe is ending all these “first look” videos with a teaser page: “Learn what’s coming next from Adobe to help you create your greatest work. May 6th at MAX.”

And in one of the official blog posts accompanying these videos, the product manager says, “Over the past 12 months we have been hard at work on the next version of Dreamweaver and today we’re excited to give you a first look… Make sure you check out Adobe MAX, where you can learn more about what’s coming next for Dreamweaver and for the rest of Adobe’s creative tools.”

SAN JOSE, Calif.—April 1, 2013—Following a recent software trend for high version numbers, Adobe Systems announced today that it would be foregoing a Creative Suite version 7 and moving straight to Creative Suite 17.

Commenting on the move, Founder John Adobe explained that with the recent availability of Firefox 19, Chrome 25, and AutoCAD 19, it made no sense to stay on low version numbers any longer.

“Single digits are so last-century… People like big release numbers. This is America, and we like things big,” said Mr. Adobe. “We normally put a lot into each major release we do, but imagine moving 10 versions! CS17 is going to to knock your socks off, as well as a tens digit,” he added.

Why 17?

“I remember my 17th birthday, it was a great time,” recalled Adobe. “I got my permit that year and it was the first time I could drive on my own. Well, using CS17 is going to be like operating a fine automobile… Or like drinking a fine wine, which gets better with age of course. After all, would you rather have a wine that was 7 years old, or 17?”